Purich Publishing was founded by Don Purich and Karen Bolstad in 1992. Together, they built an influential and enduring list of books in Indigenous studies and law, and about Western Canadian issues. On December 1, 2015, Purich Publishing’s list was acquired by UBC Press, whose existing strengths in the fields of Indigenous studies and law made it an ideal home for Purich.
UBC Press will continue to build on this significant legacy under a new imprint, Purich Books. We are moving forward with a clear purpose: to publish impassioned and experienced voices that will ignite understanding and champion change. Informed by substantive knowledge and written with the vigor of direct engagement, these are the books, the authors, and the ideas that readers will come to know as essential.
Hunting the Northern Character
This deeply personal account of recent developments in the Canadian North tells the story of a region that leaders in Oslo, Ottawa, Moscow, and Washington often refuse to see and that only insiders fully know.
- Copyright year: 2018
A Healthy Society, Updated and Expanded Edition
How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy
A Healthy Society draws on one doctor’s experience in family practice, community building, and politics to envision a new approach to politics – and a healthier world.
- Copyright year: 2018
Practising Community-Based Participatory Research
Stories of Engagement, Empowerment, and Mobilization
Researchers engaged in community-based participatory research share stories about their work with marginalized communities, offering insights and imparting valuable lessons that will inspire others doing research with an eye to social justice.
- Copyright year: 2018
By Law or In Justice
The Indian Specific Claims Commission and the Struggle for Indigenous Justice
This insider’s account of the work of the Indian Specific Claims Commission takes an unflinching look at the development and implementation of Indigenous claims policy from 1991 to 2009.
- Copyright year: 2018
Aboriginal Peoples and the Law
A Critical Introduction
This introduction to contemporary Aboriginal law lays the groundwork for any assessment of Canada’s claim to be a just society for Indigenous peoples.
- Copyright year: 2018
Caring for the Low German Mennonites
How Religious Beliefs and Practices Influence Health Care
A meticulous account and vivid illustration of the influence of religious beliefs on health practices, this book is essential reading for health care practitioners and students working with religiously diverse populations in Canada.
- Copyright year: 2018
From Where I Stand
Rebuilding Indigenous Nations for a Stronger Canada
Jody Wilson-Raybould outlines in impassioned, inspiring prose the actions that must be taken by governments, Indigenous Nations, and all Canadians to achieve true reconciliation in this country.
- Copyright year: 2019
A World without Martha
A Memoir of Sisters, Disability, and Difference
A World without Martha is an unflinching yet compassionate memoir of how one sister’s institutionalization for intellectual disability in the 1960s affected the other, sending them both on separate but parallel journeys shaped initially by society’s inability to accept difference and later by changing attitudes towards disability, identity, and inclusion.
- Copyright year: 2019
Knowing the Past, Facing the Future
Indigenous Education in Canada
Knowing the Past, Facing the Future offers a sweeping account of Indigenous education in Canada, from the first treaty promises and the failure of government-run schools to illuminating discussions of what needs to change now to work toward reconciliation.
- Copyright year: 2020
The Shoe Boy
A Trapline Memoir
The Shoe Boy is an evocative exploration of Indigenous identity and connection to the land, expressed in guise of a unique coming-of-age memoir set on a trapline in northern Quebec.
- Copyright year: 2020
Indigenous Peoples of the World
Their Past, Present and Future
A comprehensive survey of the Indigenous Peoples of the world, including who they are, where they live, and similarities in their history and future challenges.
- Copyright year: 1993
The Dynamics of Native Politics
The Alberta Metis Experience
A socio-cultural examination of the political organizations that advocate for Aboriginal rights in government policy and the rationale behind them.
- Copyright year: 1998
Justice in Aboriginal Communities
Sentencing Alternatives
Using several Aboriginal communities as case studies, Green analyzes the successes and challenges for alternative sentencing within the Canadian criminal justice system.
- Copyright year: 1998
Urban Indian Reserves
Forging New Relationships in Saskatchewan
A much needed discussion on creating collaborative local treaty land arrangements, where First Nations and municipal governments are shaping the future of their respective communities as well as providing a model for other communities.
- Copyright year: 1999
Education, Student Rights and the Charter
How the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and other human rights legislation apply to education.
- Copyright year: 1999
Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage
A Global Challenge
An international appraisal of how current legal regimes worldwide fail to protect Indigenous knowledge and what needs to change
- Copyright year: 2000
An Overview of Aboriginal and Treaty Rights and Compensation for Their Breach
Mainville provides clear and practical principles for addressing the breach of Aboriginal and treaty rights and determining appropriate compensation.
- Copyright year: 2001
Who are Canada's Aboriginal Peoples?
Recognition, Definition, and Jurisdiction
Timely, innovative, and progressive, this collection provides an essential frame of reference to measure the development of Aboriginal legal policy respecting recognition, definition and jurisdiction in Canada.
- Copyright year: 2003
Reclaiming Aboriginal Justice, Identity, and Community
At the heart of this timely and significant book is an alternative way of thinking about Aboriginal crime and justice.
- Copyright year: 2003
Tough on Kids
Rethinking Approaches to Youth Justice
In this compelling, thought-provoking and sometimes heartbreaking book, the authors use the stories of their young clients to illustrate the very real costs of the current system, analyzing theories behind youth justice, and how these are reflected in Canadian legislation both past and present.
- Copyright year: 2003